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Yvonne Ryves ’

I am never sure what will happen at Summer Solstice / Alban Hefin as although ahead of there day itself, I often have great ideas about what I might do, something often happens and I end up spending it alone and in the rain at that. As an OBOD Bard I took my guide’s[continue reading…]

Before I went on holiday in April I was busy with work, busier than I have been for a long time; courses almost weekly, clients in between and very little time to be still. Since returning from holiday it has been a completely different story. For the last few weeks I have been without work[continue reading…]

One of the things I used to really love doing was to birth shamanic drums. There is nothing like the arrival of a new hide and drum frames, the connecting with the spirits of the animals and trees who have given their lives so that drums can be birthed. Sitting with these spirits, getting a[continue reading…]

Winter is never my favourite season mainly due to the fact that I don’t like the cold and damp, so I can always be relied upon to be a bit biased but this year Winter already seems so long. January seemed to last forever for some reason and I know from conversations with people[continue reading…]

One of the first things that I learnt to do when I moved to Ireland was to make a St Brigid’s cross. I hadn’t heard of them at all before I moved and had to be taught not only how to make it but also what to do with it when it was made. Describing[continue reading…]

Winter Solstice didn’t go quite as I expected this year. I had intended to watch the live link from Newgrange and then take some time to sit in the stillness to reflect on what I was ready to let go of. I then wanted to make a Despacho, a form of prayer bundle, before lighting[continue reading…]

Although I live in Ireland I am sadly the other end of the country from the Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange where hundreds gather for the sunrise of Winter Solstice. Those few lucky people enough to be able to enter the tomb gather in the darkness to await the rays of the sun which light up[continue reading…]

This might look like a Christmas tree and most people who call to us would say that’s what it is but if they look closely they will see that it really isn’t. Ok, we have lights, a few baubles and the odd Santa but almost all of the decorations on our tree have been brought[continue reading…]

I love the idea that something we use in our kitchens can also be a tool in our healing. I know this isn’t confined to shamanic work but sometimes the kitchen gets overlooked by those of use working shamanically. We often think of things in the garden, that which we find in nature such[continue reading…]

There are so many things a Pagan might celebrate at midwinter, and so many ways in which to do it. Whether your drawn to Stonehenge, New Grange or another ancient site, celebrating the rebirth of the Sun, or the fight of the oak and holly kings, or still dreaming in the darkness with the Cailleach,[continue reading…]